Emotions… can be the silent killer to many minds which is why people try so hard to get rid of them. They cause pain and make people feel like they are going insane. Everyone has emotions even if they aren't one to express them. Everyone has gotten overwhelmed by them at least once or twice, mostly more. Emotions can be positive and negative. It feels like most of the time they are negative. Sadness and anger can take over a body like an infection. Fear can make them someone they are not. However, some negative emotions like guilt can keep us from becoming monsters. Fear can keep us safe and sadness gives us empathy. Anger can make a difference and challenge norms.

Then there are the positive emotions… happiness, excitement, love and peacefulness. Things that make life worth living. Sometimes these emotions can seem smaller than the negatives, but they mean a lot to every individual. It is what everyone is looking for.

When the positives aren't outweighing the negatives, it can be easy to wish to not feel anything. To tear out our emotions. However, without emotions we lose everything that makes us who we are. To be numb of all emotions doesn't just take the pain away; it takes away the happiness, the love and any good feeling. What's worse is it takes away the things that makes us good people. It takes away empathy and guilt. Without those, people will turn into monsters. They will become cold because they won't feel bad about it. They will become close to sociopaths. Granted that is an extreme case. The less extreme is just the feeling of being numb which sounds good at first but ends up feeling worse. Numbness is scary because it closes you off more than before and it becomes lonely. You start even feeling a distance from yourself. Like you were a ghost looking down on yourself in a coma. Being numb is like being in a coma except you are still walking and talking. Sometimes even normally so no one notices. It is easy to pretend you are okay but once you get to this stage it's hard to come out of it. If you do get out of this stage, it is easy to fall back like a relapse.

So how do we avoid this?

It isn't easy. A lot of us have either been close or have already fallen and are constantly trying not to fall back. The best thing you can do is keep feeling. Feel everything. Let yourself be happy, sad, angry or afraid. Learn to channel emotions into things so you don't explode. If you are sad write about it; use it. Face your fears. If you are angry tell people why because a lot of people are angry and tired of the same thing every day. Live your happy days to the fullest. Enjoy the little things. Use empathy to help another person. Use guilt to learn your lessons and better yourself. Help fix the things that disgust you. Use your emotions; don't cut them out. Whether you like it or not, they make you who you are. It is a waste of a life to walk through it feeling nothing. In a life that is incredibly unfair, often unkind and cruel, the best thing you can do is live it completely. Feel everything. Love, hurt, scream out of anger, cry till your eyes are dry, laugh until your stomach hurts and let yourself be an imperfect mess.

In the end when it comes to emotions…

Emotions will slowly kill you, but they are also the only things that will save you.